Man shot dead after grandmother, child call 911 on home intruder

A Sunday morning robbery in Cary, North Carolina, ended tragically when a police officer shot and killed a man after he broke into a home and stole a gun and a computer.

WRAL reports that a grandmother and her granddaughter were inside the home off of of Firetree Lane, near Davis Drive, when the grandmother heard a door open and close at around 2:30 a.m.

“I was out on the couch, watching a TV show on Netflix. I couldn’t sleep and I heard this door that leads into the house open and close,” the grandmother said. “I looked over the balcony and I saw someone.”

The woman ran to a nearby closet with her granddaughter and hid in it while she called the police. The dispatcher told her it would be “a little bit” before officers arrived to her home because they saw an individual running from her house and down her street.

“It’s going to be a little bit of time before they get to you. The reason why is they did catch an individual running out.”

The dispatcher also informed the grandmother that officers had K9 units with and attempted to take a man into custody after locating him. Shots were fired and the suspect, Shaquian Tyrone Johnson, 22, was hit. He was taken to a local hospital where he later died. Town of Cary Police Chief Tony Godwin expressed grief that officers had to shoot Johnson.

“No one got up yesterday morning wanting or even expecting to deal with such a sad set of circumstances, and our thoughts are with everyone everywhere who’s been touched by this tragedy.”

None of the officers were injured in the incident. A standard investigation into the shooting is currently underway. Court records indicate that Johnson had previous arrests for drug offenses, disorderly conduct, and littering.

Meanwhile, authorities found numerous items taken from the victim’s home, including a gun and a computer and its accessories. According to police, Johnson had the stolen revolver on him when he was shot.